Operation X

So… it turns out that junkyard motor was just that… junk. anyway… bummed as I was, I decided to just fix my motor. It turns out that 1LO called it months ago… a wrist pin. I pulled the 3rd Cyl and presto the click is gone. I’ve checked the cyl walls and they are very smooth. I see no reason to have it rebuilt. I’ve ordered new piston rings and cam bearings (which I may not use), and will also order some wrist pins. Those will arrive later in the week.

Today, to get myself motivated again. I focused on the bay… and the rest of the front end as you can see below. I got a little crazy and decided to to get the whole front end clean.

I pulled the body harness all the way out and removed everything except the AC. I’m still debating to take the ac out too just to make it easier to clean and paint.

I might do all the wire mod and the fuse box mod, I haven’t decided. I also want to reroute the fuel line I think? Maybe not, Its kinda cool to have it come out of the fender.

I’m going to try to line up and fix the fenders also. get the bent brackets at the bottom straighten out. one side is got a big gap and the other when its warm will hit the door as it opens.

Long story short, I’m going to be doing a lot of detail and tedious things while I’m waiting on the parts for the motor.

Thanks john for you help and input.

I got the bay cleaned pretty good. I got the paint and clear also. I even picked up some black 41 incase I get bored.

I got in there and roughed up all the areas that i planned on painting. Plus, I started to mask off the stuff that doesn’t need to be blue. I’ll finish the masking tonight and maybe paint. It depends on the temp and humidity.

It looks like this bracket is bent.

The progress continues. I got to paint today. Lemme tell you, it makes a huge difference. I didn’t think my bay was that bad until i painted it lol. Check this out.

before:

after 2 coats of color

After 3 coats of clear

It seems very few things are getting done. I’m waiting on parts to come in to put the motor back together, but I did re-assemble the bay.

Paint is dry….

Re-assembled… mostly. I still got to run the body harness back around the front.

Looks like I’ll be back on the motor tonight!!

Everything came in today… pistons, rings, & bearings.

The pistons are in. It took a bit to get a system going, knocking out the old pins fitting the rings, and putting it all back together…etc. But by the time I got to the last one, I was about to have it down pat :-\

I also painted the firewall black. I don’t know what I was thinking masking off on the left. I’m going to spray that again tomorrow. there will be no blue on the firewall. I’ll even try to get over behind the PCM in black too.

I got the cam installed.. new chain and damper.  I should have gotten more done. I had a late start and other issues hindered me. First off, it took an hour it feels like just to get the balancer off. I felt as if I was going to break the engine stand. I seriously was about to stand on it. I had a 2 ft pipe on a 10″ ratchet. I seriously thought it was going the wrong way. (I did switch direction to prove to myself it wasn’t a left hand thread) After nearly breaking my arm and the stand, then also bending a flywheel bolt,  it finally gave up and broke loose.

After that everything went smoothly. I couldn’t put the timing cover back on because I need a 1-1/8″ or 29mm to torque the cam sprocket bolt down. I gotta get the socket, oil & antifreeze at lunch. I think that all I will need to get her back together.

I took a break tonight. I went to see santa with the young’n.  The good news is I had 40 bucks on my autozone rewards card. I got me the big jug of Mobil 1 10w30 and that 1-1/8 socket for the cam sprocket bolt. I paid 8 bucks. The only thing I did tonight was torque the cam bolt down to spec. Tomorrow, I start fresh and rested. Maybe I will have this thing started by sunday.

Today, more progress!!

-I fixed the paint job on the firewall.

-I started putting motor back together. I got the new springs on. I was looking and the ls1 retainers look as if they are taller which in turn preloads the spring less. It wasn’t much but I didn’t use them.

-I repainted the valve covers and intake. The paint didn’t hold to well, plus a few nicks and scraps.

– I almost got it ready to sit on the K member.

Just a few more hours of wrenching and she’ll be ready to install back to the car.

I’m also missing more bolts this time around…. I know I remember taking them off. I gotta make a parts run tomorrow anyway.

PROGRESS!!

– installed headers (no more ugly mani’s)

– Engine is bolted to K-member

– Finished assembling the bay

I’ll probably have it back running in a day or so but, I’ll have to get the header Y pipe welded up and the nose back on. However, I’m going to take this time to play with some alternative lighting over the crappy sealed beam conversions I have.

SCE Copper Header gasket

Headers FTW!

Note to self- harness goes back in before the radiator.

Not much longer….